Parking Penalties To Double

Penalties that Allentown motorists face for not promptly paying parking tickets will double under a plan introduced yesterday by the Allentown Parking Authority.

Base fines for parking violations will remain the same.

Motorists who fail to pay the base $3 parking fine within 10 days will now face a $10 penalty. Failing to pay the fine after 20 days will increase from $10 now to $20.

More serious parking penalties will jump from $5 to $15 after 10 days and to $20 after 20 days. Penalties for double parking or parking in front of a fire hydrant will increase from $15 to $20 after 20 days.

Linda Kauffman, executive director of the parking authority, said the increases are needed to keep the authority from facing budget deficits in the coming years. Over the next four years, the penalty increases are expected to bring in $1.3 million.

The authority hopes the increase will also cause offenders to pay their fines more quickly. About 35 percent of the tickets issued by the authority aren't paid until after 20 days, Kauffman said. The late payment causes the authority to spend more time, and money, tracking down delinquent violators, she said.

To cover any court costs, all tickets will be $25.00 once a state citation is issued with the exception of handicap parking violations which will continue to be $50.

The new penalties will begin in about six weeks, as soon as the authority can get new tickets printed, Kauffman said.He said that without the penalty changes the authority would be facing deficits of $55,883 and $395,631 in 1992 and 1993.

In other action, the authority said it recently completed a survey of its newly installed parking meters next to the Allentown Post Office on Hamilton Street.

The meters were installed in late December to promote turnover in the seven parking spaces next to the site. Previously the spaces were 15-minute free parking, but the authority said some motorists abused the spaces by using them for over an hour.